Week 11: Managing Data

Hi Keith and SPC13,

This weeks musings are on Managing Data and the lecture that Keith presented on 19/4/13.

Keith addressed the notion that with the rise of the digital age, the availability of data is ever easier and the amount of data is ever-growing, this blog entry at Pingdom sums it up best
Internet in Numbers 2012

The data that is available is either primary (your data), secondary (someone else's, it could be wrong but it will be consistently wrong) or it may fall under the banner of meta analysis, which ends up further and further away from the original data and is used in different kinds of research.

Keith readdressed the subject of fonts in presentations (I confess that I used Baskerville on a recent assessment in order to make it more appealing to read), anyhow the presentation of data may determine how it is perceived.

I enjoyed the links that Keith put on moodle, particularly the one on the RFU/IBM partnership, and how it sought to engage the public in each game and what they should look for and expect from each game.

As a result of this lecture and pretty much this entire subject I am consciously aware of how tech savvy I am not and how far behind Keith I am technologically.  

Up next, another look at mentoring...

Week 10: Sharing and Presenting Information 2

Hi Keith and SCP13,

This weeks lecture was a follow on from the topic of Week 5.

Keith again touched on the subject of 'What do we share?'. And in it, how far could sport progress if everyone shared their knowledge and expertise?
Is there that much to be gained by withholding the information to maintain a competitive edge?
A few years back in the NFL, the New England Patriots were accused of filming the signal calling of the New York Jets. A link to a story on it is here

Bill Belichick will move on from 'Spygate'

In the grand scheme of things how bad is it to know the signals of the opposing side? At the top level, with the amount of people employed to work on that very thing, the chances of a team getting the play right without knowing the signals is pretty high. Having prior knowledge of the plays would still require the team to perform the correct play to succeed.

The next subject was that of personal presentation, in appearance and speech. How does one wish to appear when presenting and what style will they present in? Appearances of coaches across all sports varies considerably, from the suits of Sir Alex Ferguson to the cut off hoodie of Bill Belichick, the appearance is the first outward projection that people see and judge. Secondly is speech, to the media and public and also to the team, are they are a yeller or are they are a motivator? Many styles are there and each coach will select their own according to their own situation.

The topic of The Voice came up as well, and how the coaches choose who they wish to mentor. The press their buttons and turn around to interact with a person who they chose purely on their 'Voice'. Keith is enthralled and can't get enough of it!
I haven't really got into it, but I'm sure if I started I'd be hooked too...

Enough on this topic, I'll have a look at Keith's presentation on Managing Data, and go from there.

Thanks for stopping by, stay classy.

Kieran

Week 9: The Expert Pedagogue

Hi there again Keith and SCP13,


This week we looked at The Expert Pedagogue, and the interaction between the coach/teacher and the athlete/student. Keith then addresses the ability of the coach to reflect on the social and educational dynamics that have been created and relates that to the students in SCP and the reflection that is being presented in blogs such as this one. To be an expert pedagogue, one must be confident in their decision making and take responsibility for actions.

Keith introduced us to David Berliner, a person that gave him much insight whilst completing his PhD, specifically the role of teachers and coaches and looking for cues within sessions and knowing when and how to act upon them.

The next introduction is John Wooden, a coach that I was familiar with before, his many victories and triumphs, his role in sculpting the careers of legendary basketballers and his pyramid of success. Many people have written about the legacy Wooden has left on coaching, Keith links to a few and explains the way in which Wooden was a stickler for planning. Every session was meticulously planned in extensive detail, and he sought to constantly evaluate progress. 

Another topic that Keith raised is the concept of praising performance versus praising effort and the potential outcomes of too much of the former. To overpraise the performance there will be a void when the performance is no longer there, however if you are to praise the effort, and the effort becomes reinforced, then performance increase is likely to follow.Keith also linked back to Berliner with the concept of 'pride in profession' and how that is a marker of the expert pedagogue.

I looked at examples of modern day coaches that would fit the title of 'expert pedagogue' and I found a few that I put in my assignment as examples of proponents of good coaching styles.New Zealand All-Blacks rugby coach Graham Henry, Florida State University football coach Bobby Bowden, Australian cricket coach John Buchanan and Fresno State University softball coach Margie Wright all fit the bill for expert pedagogue as each in their own way improved the performance of their teams and left lasting legacies through their own unique coaching styles.

Henry sought to unite the teams within Super rugby format in New Zealand, regain support from the public, eliminate an underlying alcohol culture within the team and implement a new rotation policy that looked to prevent complacency and encourage the development of new players.

Bowden utilised a similar approach to Wooden in that he encouraged a religious aspect as well as intricate planning and evaluation, he looked to prepare his players not only as athletes but as members of society also, he credits the success of his players in their careers as his greatest accomplishment over any victories.

Buchanan was an unpopular selection as Australian coach as he had never played for his country and only amassed 160 runs in 7 appearances for Queensland. But he was a student of the game who critiqued performance not as a cricketer but as an analyst, he was always looking for new techniques and ideas to implement and his record speaks for itself.

Wright is the only female I looked to evaluate, her record as a coach stood out so much that I didn't feel many others would compare (Pat Summit is a close second in my opinion but that's just me). Wright is the all-time winningest coach in NCAA D1 softball and second in all sports. She led her team to a national championship (the first in school history) and also was on the coaching staff of the US national team at the Atlanta Olympics where they won gold. A pioneer for women in sports coaching, she has coached 53 All-Americans, 16 Academic All-Americans, 11 NCAA statistical champions, 8 professional softballers and 15 Olympians. 

All of these coaches are what I would call expert pedagogues.
I'm sure there are more examples but these are the few that I chose to identify. Would be happy to hear of others too.

Looking forward to next weeks topic which expands on the previous topic of Sharing & Presenting.

Till then,

Kieran

Week 7: Produsing Resources

Hi there Keith and SCP13,

This week we learned how the internet (YouTube in particular) can take a young man from his bedroom in New Jersey to the world via a karaoke version of a Moldovan pop hit! (I suspect the Simpsons took liberty with the original with their Party Posse - Drop the Bomb video).

Keith showed a lot of different platforms that can be used in for the development of ones own teaching/coaching profile. The world is now intricately linked via the internet and the ability to converse and share ideas with like minded people from all over the globe are simply a touch away.

I particularly liked the story of the 'Coaches' Corner' and how two coaches discussed team lineups before a tournament and initiated their plans to great success only to find out that they were separated by a hallway the whole time! 

Reminds me of a story concerning two of my friends and internet dating. Both had had little success in dating and had thought the internet may help identify a like minded person. These were two friends from different groups and it was to their surprise that they both had a mutual friend in me, even more that she worked in the same office as his dad. Such a small world that we are not even aware of the people that are so close to us that we may never meet. It takes the medium of an internet dating site to allow people to meet others that they should rightly be meeting in society. I'm not sure if this is a comment on the state of society and its values or on the emergence of the internet as a viable tool in establishing relationships.

In response to the 'Coaches' Corner' story and knowing when to change a lineup I look to the NFL and the reigning Superbowl champion Baltimore Ravens. After winning the title they shook up their roster, Ray Lewis retires and they let Ed Reed, Bernard Pollard, Danelle Ellerby and Paul Kruger on defence and Anquan Boldin on offense go in moves to secure more money to keep the franchise at the top. These players were vital pieces of the championship team, time will tell if these moves pay off, but it is an example of the constant evolution of a sporting team and the moves it has to make to stay competitive.
Baltimore Ravens free agency moves

Do these coaches and managers converse with mentors or other coaches to find reasons to keep or trade players? I look at the movie Moneyball which depicts the story of Major League Baseball manager Billy Bean who overlooked the traditional means of utilising scouts to procure new talent and looked to statistics to find the most efficient team he could in terms of money versus performance, to great success it must be said.
Billy Bean bio

With the use of different applications, websites and other technologies it can be seen that a coach can utilise any and all information for the betterment of his/her team. From the days of video analysis from a reel to reel to current day slow motion video capture, from a statistician taking down game data to the use of GPS tracking to monitor a players movements, the development in technology has moved at an astounding rate. And sports performance has ridden its coattails the whole way.

I for one am looking forward to where the next batch of technology takes the sports I love to watch...

Catch you next week,

Kieran

Week 6: Mentoring

Hi Keith and all of SCP13,

The topic this week is that of mentoring. I find this a tricky topic to deal with, what exactly is a mentor and what do they do? Who should have one and who should seek one?

I look first to a definition, Oxford dictionary describes a mentor two ways;
as a noun; an experienced person who trains or counsels,
as a verb; to advise or train.

That clears it up a little for me. So a mentor is an someone in a position of experience that can advise others in their field ox expertise. That brings me to the second point, who should have one and who's should seek one?

I believe that to attain any level of expertise one has to follow someone who has reached that level already. I'm certain that there are those that have blazed their own trails in life but in doing so would have borrowed an idea from another area, such as a coach in sport borrowing the theories of an army general, politician, or educator and transposed them into their particular area to great success.

An athlete today would not consider going into training without the help of a coach, why would a coach go into training without their own coach? I take an example of a friend of mine who competes in Crossfit. He himself is a coach who trains up to 100 athletes of his own, but when it came to his own programming he saw a fundamental flaw, he could not program sufficiently for himself without bias, and with enough intensity to get the full benefit. He looked around and saw an up and coming coach nearby, had a meeting with him to see how suitable he would be and went about setting up a schedule. 3 months of training ensued and his results were far greater than any he had had in the previous two years. Here I find a perfect case of one knowing when to ask for help, to seek a mentor, had he continued on his own he would not have been able to reach the heights he did.

In this case it is a relationship based on respect and goals, they begin together and set up a program with an end in sight, at the end they can choose to set new goals or finish there. But Keith alluded to a problem of knowing when to leave a mentor-mentee relationship. I can see a reason as to why this would become awkward and that is the opposite to what is mentioned previous, a loose relationship that has no discernible framework and no end date. Like any training program, this too needs a framework to ensure success.

Their was also the idea of comfort, both of the mentor and mentee, if either is uncomfortable it will be difficult to progress, this should be addressed at the very beginning when choosing a mentor. One must look at the person, not simply for their accomplishments, but their status as a person.
Do they share similar beliefs on training?
Do they share similar interests outside of training?
Do they have a sense of humour?
Do you want them to have a sense of humour?
Anything you wish to have in a mentor this person should possess, if they do not, don't enter into a mentor-mentee relationship.

I look at examples of mentor-mentee relationships

Obi-Wan Kenobi to Luke Skywalker

Sidney Poitier to Denzel Washington

Phil Jackson to Michael Jordan

Each menthe was a special talent before they started with their mentors, but it is because of the mentors that they became great.

I look forward to the thoughts of next week, with the topic of Produsing.

Kieran

Week 5: Sharing & Presenting

Hi there SCP13, another week, another class, another blog post. I do think I'm getting a handle on this (much better than my basketball dribbling...)

This week was quite interesting as the theories pertaining to the lecture were quite practical in their application to the tutorial. Considering the audience and adapting accordingly is pretty much what Keith has been doing week in week out in my opinion. Not an easy task but it is his job and he is doing it well.

I consider my first foray into coaching, a university aged girls touch football team. Having played at a high level since I was 12 and having observed many different coaches and styles approached this with a 'how hard can this be' attitude. What I was greeted with was a harsh reality that it was incredibly difficult, times had changed since I was involved in this club last and the level of talent had dropped dramatically, my game plan was out the window and I went to basics, they got bored, I tried involving less skill and more practical aspects, they got bored. I punished them with fitness, they got even more disinterested. I rewarded them with chocolate, only worked two times before I didn't think it appropriate for a team to need chocolate to perform a task. This lasted for 10 weeks and away to the tournament we went. Upon getting there I found that they recalled nothing from training, deeming the whole thing a waste of theirs and my time. What I discovered was another way I could have approached the endeavour, some girls adapted really quickly to different situations and showed strengths right away. If I had have used a game situation first up to identify strengths and weaknesses rather than try to show them how to play they would have performed a lot better. Lesson learned.

Keith also suggested looking at who sculpted your teaching theory, and for me it was monkey see monkey do, I copied all of the coaches I had before, not looking to broaden my approach by looking at influences outside those I had experienced.
Since then I look at coaches I have seen in person and on tv, with styles and qualities I admire. I also delve into the past and look at those that have done it best and the qualities they possessed that led to their success. In doing this I hope to attain a more rounded approach that suits my strengths and helps the athletes in my care.

Lastly Keith mentioned the case of Role Models, breaking it up it 'What Role' and 'What Model'... I look at the most recent cases in the NRL of people frowning upon the actions of Ben Barba, Josh Dugan and Blake Ferguson. People place them on such a pedastal that the only way to go is down. No one applauds any good deeds they do, that is all in private, but when they don't follow the guidelines they are ripped apart. What 20-something year old guy hasn't had a few too many drinks and not gone to work on Monday? Are they in the paper? No. Case of extreme double standards and not entirely fair.
I have met Blake Ferguson, it was whilst he was drinking, and he was nothing but courteous to me as a bartender. He even sought me out when he was leaving to thank me for my help and service. You won't see that on the news... What role does the media want these players to fill? Who in their right mind would want their child to model themselves on an athlete? The only thing people should look at is the work ethic, what it took to get them there. Not much else is necessary.

But again you have to look at each situation in its own right, whether it be presenting a course, coaching a team, or assessing standards of behaviour among elite athletes. You can't expect something to be the same as before just because they share similar styles and themes.

Will pop back over the weekend with Keiths Friday teachings.

Cheers.

Kieran

Week 4: Observation & Augmented Information

Evening Keith, evening all.

Unfortunately I was away for the lecture and tutorial so its a bit hard to interpret the information through the slide cast and associated reading as the subject of augmented is wide and far reaching. I also missed stinking up the basketball court with my grade school dribbling and ambisinister shooting.

What is it to observe in a sporting environment, how much should one merely observe before providing feedback, or as Keith refers to it 'feed-forward' (I happen to find this term rather clever in its positive rather than negative take on 'feed-back'). I dare say there is no definitive answer, but a case of having a feel for a situation that one either possesses naturally or acquires over time.

To look at the top you find revolutionary thinkers and visionaries ahead of their time, Ivan Abadjiev in weightlifting, Bela Karolyi in gymnastics, John Wooden in basketball, and more controversially Charlie Francis in athletics. In each case a brilliant mind years ahead of the pack with techniques and systems that would be mimicked and built upon for years to come. Abadjiev threw out the book on weightlifting training and adopted an intense training regime (one that the Chinese have since adopted and adapted to great success), Karolyi used a strict authoritarian style to elicit the best out of his gymnasts (Nadia Comaneci being the prime example), Wooden (possibly the greatest coach of all time), used a number of principles of training and living that he instilled in his players, he was a thinker and a listener and always ahead of the pack, Francis was in the same mould as Abadjiev, he threw away the traditional book of sprint training and focused his charges in velocity rather than endurance (he subsequently put them on courses of PEDs but his system is copied to this day worldwide).

In recent years I've followed a lot of softball tournaments and had the privilege of meeting some of the top coaches in Australia (and the US), and been able to pick there brains on their approaches in training and in game situations. At a recent national championships I spent time with a leading US college coach who was out scouting a few players to put on scholarship. He discussed approaches to offence and defence that had never crossed my mind, (and by the looks of things neither had some of the coaches there). Here was a case and point of one form of observation, this one would have little to no feed-forward to the majority of players, (only the two that caught his eye were ever approached due to NCAA recruiting rules), but I on the other hand was able to get the 'feed-forward' on his observations and at the level he was at it was more information than my untrained mind could fathom. To put it bluntly and in the basic form I understood, he was first and foremost looking for an attitude, one that would fit with his program, then he wanted a skill that would be useful, and thirdly he wanted something he could enhance, this was the basic formula he used when scouting, if a girl displayed these qualities he would proceed further, if not he wouldn't pursue it.

Moving back to what Keith put forward in his presentation, the key point that I found most interesting was the theme of 'what is the noise and what is the silence?' Meaning a coach has to know when to talk (provide information; the noise) and when to listen and observe (the silence). Finding a balance of the two that suits the athlete will go a long way in allowing their particular program to succeed. Too much noise and the athlete may get discouraged or annoyed at the coach, too little noise and the athlete may become lost, (each athlete is intricately different and may require different levels at different stages, making the coaches job all the more difficult...)

Lastly I find the theme of guided discovery to go hand in hand with what Coach Wooden utilised for his whole career; the 'Pyramid of Success' and his 12 lessons on leadership. Many past players will attribute their success to these principles that Wooden used to guide their development as players and as men. Here is a picture of the pyramid and lessons. A detailed copy is available at www.coachwooden.com

That's about all I can manage on this for now, I'll be back to tackle Keiths take on Sharing & Presenting.

Thanks for your time.